


Wake Up, Dumbass

by dizzyS



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Fainting, M/M, Sick Character, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-11
Updated: 2017-12-11
Packaged: 2019-02-13 08:14:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12979881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dizzyS/pseuds/dizzyS
Summary: Everybody has a secret and Jean is determined to discover Marco’s and the reason why he skips his training in the morning. But Marco’s secret is a little more complicated than Jean had anticipated and can even compromise his future and his dream to join the Military Police.





	Wake Up, Dumbass

**Author's Note:**

> I deleted this to review because it had a ton of (mostly medical) inaccuracies I couldn't really fix anymore. If you read it before, the story is basically the same. Some mistakes are still bound to happen, as I'm not a native english speaker; feel free to tell me any you find. Shingeki no Kyojin belongs to Isayama Hajime. If it belonged to me Marco would still be alive.

Everybody has a secret. And Jean couldn’t help to wonder what Marco was hiding from him. At the first glance, the taller boy seemed like an open book. He was hardworking, friendly and really polite, always helping his colleagues with their theory studies or assigning himself voluntarily to tasks like cleaning or even working in the kitchen (the last with Sasha, who only did it for the extra food they gave her). But Jean noticed Marco would sometimes be absent from the training, especially early in the morning, despite getting up before him. Or at least was what he supposed; when he woke up Marco was already gone. He would come back in the middle of the training, excusing himself and claiming that some superior had sent him somewhere to run an errand. Jean wasn’t convinced and in a rainy morning, with Marco once again absent, he decided to ask Armin. Armin Arlert was a tiny boy with blonde hair, extremely clever and Eren’s childhood friend. Jean knew they usually cleaned their 3D Maneuver Gear together, so it could be possible Armin knew something he didn’t. So, when he found Armin reading alone after lunch, before the afternoon classes, he excused himself from his table and walked to where the boy was sitting.

“Hey, Armin, can I sit here?”

“Sure,” the boy replied, not looking up from his book.

“Huh… I need to speak with you…” Jean spoke hesitantly and Armin finally noticing the cue, looked up and closed the book. Jean looked apprehensive.

“Oh, sorry, I was in the interesting part. What’s wrong?”

Jean would never understand what was so interesting about a Titan’s History book, but right now he didn’t care either.

“Nothing’s wrong… or at least that’s what I hope. It’s Marco, I’m worried about him.”

“What about Marco?”

“Did you notice how he sometimes skips the morning training to, apparently, run errands?” Armin nodded, watching how Jean was fidgeting with his hands, “I just think that excuse is kind of lame, I mean, none of us seems to go around doing stuff for our superiors, especially so early in the morning! And I know you sometimes have clean duty with Marco, so… do you know anything?”

Armin stared at Jean in silence before replying slowly.

“So, you noticed it too? I also think it’s strange but I was afraid I was being unreasonable or something, so I didn’t say anything.” he looked in Marco’s direction, still sitting at the table where Jean originally was, “I know Mikasa sometimes does some extra training, she’s the best from our squad and our superiors want her to be even better, but I never heard anything about extra errands given to trainees.” He looked now at Jean, who was almost drinking his words.

“So, you mean he’s really hiding something!” Jean exclaimed, causing the other trainees still at the nearest tables look at him curiously.

“I guess he can be. But, rest assured, I’ll try to know more about those errands.” Armin promised, getting up, “Sorry Jean, I have some things to do before our lessons.”

“Huh, sure. Thanks.” Jean said, looking to the now empty spot where Marco was sitting five minutes ago. He would discover what the freckled boy was hiding from him.

 

The discovery was made in the worst of circumstances.

Armin promised to ask about the errands and he did. First, he asked Sasha, who also worked voluntarily sometimes, but she didn’t know nothing about those extra tasks. He then asked Connie, Mina, Hannah, Franz and eventually the extra-errand-talk got to the ears of Keith Shadis, the implacable and strict Chief Instructor that in the end of the training that day called Marco to his office.

Jean was beyond worried, as it was because of him and his curiosity that Marco was being called in. Armin was also visibly nervous and kept looking at Jean at lunch, while Mikasa was trying to keep Eren from punching Jean, as, in Eren’s opinion, he was the cause of Armin’s distress.

Marco wasn't in the afternoon lessons and skipped dinner too. It was really late when he came back to the dorms. Jean was still awake and his heart skipped a beat when he heard the other man enter the building and he got up immediately. Marco starred at him, his face tired, turning his back at Jean.

"Marco, I…", Jean started but Marco interrupted him.

"Go to sleep. It's late and tomorrow we have training in the morning." He was undressing, his back still turned to the smaller man.

"But Marco…"Marco turned, this time smiling, “We can talk tomorrow okay? I’m tired.”

Jean just nodded while Marco, still smiling, went to bed. That was going to be a very long night.

 

Jean awoke felling the sun on his face. Looking at the clock in the wall, he almost fell of his bunk bed. _Great, just great!_ It was already seven and he was supposed to be on training in ten minutes. Shadis was going to kill him if he was a minute late. And the room was empty which meant nobody tried to wake him up, not even Marco. His heart ached at the thought, was he mad at him? But jumping from the bed, the first person he saw was the freckled man. _Now this is strange!_ What was he still doing there? While absent a lot of times he was always diligent and punctual. Was he waiting for Jean to speak with him? As he got closer, he noticed how pale Marco looked. He was very still, sitting in his bed, his eyes closed and, _oh my god_ , he was breathing, or better, gasping quickly. Jean was in his side in a minute.

“Marco? Hey, Marco! Are you okay?” Marco didn’t reply. He didn’t even seem to hear Jean, who was getting more worried by the second. He touched his friend’s freckled face. Marco was incredibly cold.

“Marco! Can you hear me?” The scream seemed to wake Marco from his trance.

“Jean…” he replied weakly, “Hi…”

"Dude, you're scaring me, what's wrong with you?" Jean insisted.

“I’m fine…” He tried to get up, only to fall moments later. Jean was fast and caught him in his arms. Marco was now completely unconscious.

“Shit, shit, fuck! Marco! HELP, I NEED HELP!” he screamed, still grabbing Marco. He hoped someone could hear him; after all, the canteen wasn’t that far from the dorms. Fortunately, he heard someone enter the barrack a few minutes later.

“Over here!” he screamed and Armin appeared in his line of vision, followed by Eren and Mikasa. Armin’s eyes widened as he watched Marco on the floor and Mikasa left the building again to call for help.

 “Jean? What happened?” Eren asked, kneeling at Marco’s side, still pale and unresponsive. He knew Jean had a bad temper sometimes but he also knew Jean would never hurt Marco, his best friend. Armin kneeled too and took Marco’s pulse on his fingers.

“I-I don’t know! I woke up and he just collapsed on me!” Jean was shaking, still embracing his friend and close to tears. He was trying to be strong, but fuck appearances, he was worried as hell.

“His pulse is really low; we need to take him to the infirmary!” He heard Armin’s voice this time.

Mikasa entered the building again, bringing Reiner this time who, without requiring any explanation (Jean, you need to let him go, he’ll get better, I promise!), grabbed Marco and carried him bridal style to the infirmary followed by the worried group.

 

The nurses kept walking on and on, seemingly busy even though the infirmary was practically empty. Jean was sat in one of the chairs, still trembling and being comforted by Armin, who patted his back reassuringly. Even Eren, despite arguing with him 95% of times, seemed concerned and would glance in his direction from time to time; from the ones that found Marco only Mikasa went to the training that morning, as Shadis gave them time off.

Finally, after what seemed an eternity, a small doctor came out of the little wooden door in their direction, since they were the only people in the waiting room. Jean got up from the chair immediately not even giving the doctor time to speak.

“How’s he doctor, how’s Marco? What’s wrong with him?” He asked anxiously, with both Armin and Eren on his side.

“Don’t worry, Mr. Bott seems to be fine and he’s resting now. He was quite dehydrated, so we’re giving him fluids. Other than that, he’s expected to make a full recovery, at least for now.”

“So, he fainted because he was dehydra-?” Jean asked again, but Armin interrupted him.

“For now? What do you mean?” He asked with caution, eyeing Jean.

“Mr. Bott suffers from very low pressure; as you’re probably aware it’s not the first time Mr. Bott comes here with the same problem and he’s aware he’s exhausting himself in the field way too much lately. I…”, the doctor stopped suddenly, watching at their surprised faces; Jean’s face was a mist of confusion and distress, his fists clenched.

“I’m sorry doctor, but we didn’t know about it until now…” Armin confessed.

“Oh… I-I’m really sorry for telling you like this, but I really thought Mr. Bott had told you. And this isn’t an easy problem to hide, as this isn’t the first time Mr. Bott faints-”

“Shit, shit, shit! How could I overlook this? I’m supposed to be his best friend!” Jean exclaimed suddenly, sitting again with his head on his hands.

Eren sat beside him.

“Jean, man, I’m sure he had a reason not to tell you, just calm down please.” He put his hand hesitantly on Jean’s shoulder. _Eren trying to comfort him?_ The world was really fucked up. That or he was dreaming.

“Can we see him?” He heard Armin ask and the doctor nodded.

“Mr. Bott is very likely to wake up shortly, but please only one person each time; he is still very tired and needs to rest. I can show you the way to Mr. Bott’s room.” Armin looked at Jean and he followed the doctor to Marco’s room, leaving the two friends in the waiting room.

 

“Marco? Hey, Marco!”

The voice was getting louder and louder and Marco opened his eyelids, groaning at the light that wasn’t that strong but still made his eyes hurt.

“Thank god Marco, thank god!”

“Jean?” Marco said faintly. He was still a little dizzy and his vision was still blurry, but he could see a mop of blonde hair. His best friend’s hair. If Marco was more lucid he would’ve noticed the strong grip on his hand.

“Marco, how are you feeling?”

Jean was really relieved. Marco’s skin had recovered his natural colour and he was breathing properly now.

Blinking Marco adjusted his eyes to the light and he could finally see Jean’s face clearly. Little tear trails made their way down Jean’s cheeks and his eyes were shining. He tried to get up but Jean grabbed his shoulders and prompted him to bed again. Marco only smiled.

“God Jean, I thought you never cried?” He joked but earned a light smack in the arm.

“You fucking idiot! You have no idea how you scared me back then! I thought you were going to die! You aren’t going to die, are you?” Jean was rambling, and Marco’s face fell before he smiled again, this time even more widely. _Damn idiot, the world could be ending and he would still be smiling._

“As far as I’m aware, I won’t.” He replied, still surprised to watch Jean, his strong friend Jean, crying on his behalf. Jean’s expression softened for a second before a small scowl (of worry, Marco noted) appeared. “And you have a lot to explain. You’re sick and you didn’t say anything! I’m your best friend, or am I wrong?”

Marco winced at the words. “I’m sorry, Jean…” he smiled sadly. Jean sat on the chair he was previously in while Marco was still asleep and took Marco’s hand again on his.

“Marco. I won’t judge you. We’re friends, right?” Marco nodded and Jean continued. “You can tell me anything.”

Marco sighed.

“I wasn’t hiding this _exactly_ from you, if that makes things better…” Marco inhaled deeply “I can’t control whether I faint or not. I thought I could, but I can’t. This will ruin the chances of me joining the Military Police. They’ll never want someone that will lose consciousness while fighting. They’ll never want me.”

Jean was observing him in silence and Marco inhaled again.

“I was really happy you wanted to join the Military Police. It was always my dream and having you there… it would be great! But now… They’ll probably kick me out since I won’t even stand a chance in the Scouting Legion-”

“Don’t- don’t say that! You’re one of the best ones out there! You’re-“

“No Jean, they’ll now know I’m… like this.” He simply said.

“Sorry, this is my entire fault, if I hadn’t talked about the damn errands…”

Jean recalled Marco crying the night before.

“Does Shadis know?”

Marco shrugged. “He doesn’t. He thinks I’ve been skipping training just to sleep more but I convinced the kitchen lady to tell him I was helping her on the mornings. It just happens that some mornings are awful… and I end up here. Well, you saw.” He replied sheepishly, passing his hand through his nose as he did when he was nervous. Jean knew how the freckled boy hated to lie.

“But how? I mean, you were dead to the world, how can you just end up here?” Jean inquired.

“Reiner. He knows and he carries me every time. He never questioned further though.” Marco admitted.

Jean, deep down, felt slightly hurt. He was kind-of trusting Reiner, why couldn’t he trust him?

Marco seemed to sense what he was thinking.

“I’m really sorry, Jean.”

Without warning Jean had an unconscious urge and hugged Marco. The teen was very surprised at first but he hugged Jean back.

“No, dude, don’t be sorry. We’ll… we’ll find a way, I promise!” He said quickly. Marco just sniffled, not saying a word back. They stayed like that for a long time, Jean sitting in the bed awkwardly hugging Marco until the latter fell asleep again, dreaming with the Military Police and Jean. _Especially_ Jean.

When Marco awoke the second time later that day he was met with a very polite nurse that came to check on him, assuring he would be released as soon as possible. He looked around; Jean wasn’t there, but he expected that, as Jean couldn’t be off the training forever. Looking at the big clock on the wall, he noticed it was almost lunch time. No wonder he was hungry. The doctor, the usual one and who was called John Curtis, decided to enter the room in that precise moment, and grinned at him.

“I hope you had a good rest, Mr. Bott! I’m hoping you can be released by now.” He said cheeringly.

“Thank you, doctor. Oh, and I told you before, Marco is fine.” He smiled to the older man.

“May I speak with you for a minute, though?”

The doctor’s face was serious and Marco felt his heartbeat go faster. He knew what would come next. The moment he would say Marco wasn’t apt to train anymore and could come back home and…

“Marco, are you listening? Should I make you stay until the evening, just in case?” Dr. Curtis looked at him worryingly.

“No, I’m okay, I was just… thinking, I’m sorry.” He smiled gently.

The doctor continued.

“As I was saying, your friend Mr. Kirstein came to me really worried about both your physical and mental well-being. You have an amazing friend!” Marco just stared back at Dr. Curtis face, and the doctor continued. “Mr. Kirstein is really worried about your future. He told me you are really good and want to join the Military Police, isn’t it?”

Marco nodded. The doctor gave a faint smile.

“You had never told me! Well, as a trainee and your limitations-“

“I’m out, aren’t I?” Marco interjected, a sad smile creeping on his face. ”I know doctor, please, just say it already and I’ll pack my things and leave.”

Firmly, he looked Dr. Curtis in the eyes, but the older man seemed not to have listened and kept talking.

“As a trainee with your limitations, I would never let you join any training activity. It’s really dangerous and honestly, I don’t even understand why your files didn’t reach the higher-ups; I just thought they were deciding what to do with you, as you are, apparently, one of the best of you squad. _But”_ , he said louder, as Marco appeared to want to interrupt him again, “your friend Jean wants the best for you and he knows how much it means to you to join the Military Police. Since you have a real opportunity to join it, I’ll overlook it. They do lighter work, anyways, so I’ll believe it’s the best option for someone who isn’t as physically strong as the others.”

Marco’s mouth was agape. “Huh?”

“I’ll just say this was just a rare occurrence to Inspector Shadis. But in exchange I want to monitor you closely to make sure things are controlled. You’re also going to take these”, he showed Marco a bottle full of small red pills, “and slow down the training a little. Also, don’t forget to thank Mr. Kirstein as he was the only responsible for changing my mind.”

Marco couldn’t believe it! He could go! He could join the Military Police, he could serve the King! And more importantly (even though he didn’t know when his priorities had changed), he would go with Jean. While the doctor excused himself from the room and he started dressing, he made a mental note to ask Sasha if she could snatch some meat from the kitchen. Jean deserved it.

**Author's Note:**

> After watching episode 8 I have this headcanon that Marco faints a lot and I wanted to write something about it. I (still) like to torture characters, and Marco definitely calls for pain and sadness. I'm sorry Marco.


End file.
